The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-07-18
THE BASTILE.
Something About the Famous Fortress and
Prison of the French Capital

Something About the Famous Fortress and
Prison of the French Capital
Chicago Herald.
The Bastile, which was RACED by an Infatuated
populace almost q century ago, was in French
history what the Tower of London was in the
history of England. Both were originally
fortresses, but each became the prison to which
despotism sent its victims and from which for
many of these sufferers death was the only re-
lease. The power of the French monarch be-
fore the revolution was more absolute than that
of the English sovereign even in the days of the
last Henry, and no judicial process whatever
was necessary to confne In the dungeons OF the
Bastile the men whom a kings caprice or envy,
or fear. or justice. would doom. A nod
enough. It became the fact that power was
frequently abused arbitrarily power will
be, and the record of the Bastile is one
long, blistering infamy. The popular resent
ment aroused. not alone because the sum-
mary method of imprisonment within the halls
upon which might have been inscribed the motto
upon the portal of Dante's inferno, who enters
here leaves hope behind" but also because of
the cruelties that were known to be practiced
within the massive walls. The kings designed
that prisoners should at least be well fed. Suf
ficient appropriations were made with that view,
but jobbery is inevitable accompaniment of
absolutism in government and appointments to
the Infamous prison meant fortune to gov
ernor who starved his prisoners to enrich him
self. The ventilation of the prison was afro
cious, its drainage ran through an open ditch,
the stencil of which was horrible. AS the Tower
was the death place of many men illustrlous in
English history so the Bastile witnessed the vio-
lent taking off of many noble Frenchmen.
For nearly four centuries the French peopl q
submitted. as indeed. they had no choice but to
submit, TO the knowledge that fell0w-creatures
were subjected the Bastile to horrors, the
least of which was death. When finally they
assaulted the stronghold and blotted it from ex-
istence it was treasured wrong rather than
existing evil that urged them on. Its atrocities
had been rntigated after the death of Louis
XIV, and when it was taken. ninety-eight years
ago, its vast area con tanned no moro than seven
prisoners, though it defended by the gov
ernor with a guard of hundred soldiers. The
fury of the people was directed against this
cient structure because it had stood SO long as q
terror-inspiring monument of the insolence. the
cruelty and the I'M Justice of the despotism prac-
ticed by kings. The French might have spared
the Tower, but they more emo
tional and less economical than the Eng
lish Their sentiment touching the
act is shown in the gift of the key of this RACED
prison to George Washington, then the most
illus trious cham pion of human liberty.
The memory of what the Bastile was and what
finally outraged people did with it abides
with the French. The anniversary of its fall is
generally celebrated, but not always in the best
of temper. The occasion. necessarily clarifying
rebellion is seized by the discontinued as favor
which is charged with the maintenance of order.
vorite, Bouanger created ill-will toward the
powers that be, and this, coupled with the
strong anti-German feeling among the people-a
feeling which it was thought Boulanger would
find means of gratifying-made the governments
apprehensive of trouble during the celebration
of the fall of the Bastile. but the occasion hap
PLY passed without tumult.